Tue November 20, 2012

Letters: Banning High School Football, Shoplifting

It's Tuesday and time to read from your comments. Last Wednesday, we discussed the dangers and benefits of high school football. Walt in Bakersfield, California wrote to say: I learned teamwork, perseverance and sacrifice of personal goals for larger good through football. At work, the word coachability is applied to people who will listen with humility and attentiveness. Other sports are more individualistically oriented. Please, consider these losses before you drop football.

Marissa in Rockford, Illinois wrote: Not only is head injury a concern for high school players, the conditions in which they train and practice are a worry as well. During the summer, players can be trained in very high heat with infrequent water breaks. Teams are fainting and having complications. We ask too much from these players. It's not right.

Last Thursday, we talked about what happens when shoplifters get caught. John in Marysville, Ohio, wrote: I operate a court-ordered shoplifting program every Saturday in Columbus. I'm amazed at the callers. They vary in the reason why they shoplift. But most verbalize intense emotions, such as depression, anxiety, drugs and excitement. Some break my heart. Others are cited wrongfully due to an energetic loss prevention officer at the stores. Shoplifting is not just as perception of stealing and often is deeper than its ideology.

Christopher wrote us: In college, I went with my roommate to Wal-Mart where I watched him shoplift an air rifle. He took the bar code off a tennis racket, put it on the gun and went through the check-out. He paid only $8 for it and even had his receipt checked at the door.

Sara in St. Louis wrote to say: I got busted shoplifting a music CD as a teen and got off with a little consequence. Later in college, I was using straight razor blades to slice sensors that were stuck on CD covers so they wouldn't activate the alarm. As I walked out the door of Circuit City, I absentmindedly dropped the razor in my purse and was digging around it at one day only to almost slice my finger off. At that point, the light bulb clicked and I have not stolen since.

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